Mode Suisse – Edition 11 | Zurich

“Fashion is not really about clothes; it is about life.” This quote from the great Franca Sozzani, one of the most significant scouts and promoters of talent in the world of fashion throughout her all-too-short lifetime, is illustrative of the transition into the new fashion year. According to aficionados of fine fabrics, 2017 is likely to be an excellent year. Numerology is just as auspicious: the number 1, first in line in the digit sum of 2017, stands for a new beginning; it is considered a lucky number. Maybe it is no coincidence that 2017 will see Mode Suisse’s Edition 11, twice the number 1.

There is no reason to be alarmed, though. The Swiss talent-promotion platform is not going to be guided by evasive and supernatural phenomena. Like any ambitious fashion designer out to succeed in a tough business world, the Mode Suisse team rely on disciplined work and professional networking first and foremost. The Mode Suisse organisation, established in 2011, has always striven to not only spot fashion talent but also support them along the way. Many a fashion designer faces up to the international fashion experts on the Mode Suisse jury for more than one season. Apart from staging events held in Zurich and the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Mode Suisse paves the way for fashion designers in such industry strongholds as Paris and Berlin, giving them an opportunity to present their collections to international audiences. All this is possible only owing to support and patronage from generous partners Engagement Migros, The Zurich Silk Association ZSIG, The Hulda and Gustav Zumsteg Foundation and Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, allies of Mode Suisse since Edition 10.

Embracing both tradition and subversion, the field and the street, codified notions of taste and aspiration, crossing British cultures and class boundaries, is both wryly looked at and celebrated in the collection.

NEIGHBORHOOD

“And even if we change neighborhoods, cities or countries, we always carry with us that sense of personal transformation that a piece of land, with its buildings, parks, bars, and people, has given us. We are almost certain to hang on to a sense of gratitude and nostalgia for it.”